What I Should Have Done Looking back on my experience with deadbeat corporate client, my biggest mistake was doing it all myself, with writing letters and making phone calls. With an hourly rate of about $75, I ended up spending time equivalent of a large chunk of my $2000 fee. I should have gone to a collection agency. I just didn't know then that were collection agencies that would take on small business debts and run whole process for you for as little as $20 per debt.

Of course, I also didn't know that going to a collection agency didn't necessarily mean "putting an account in collections." Many collection agencies are in fact refashioning themselves as "accounts receivable management" specialists; they'll even manage your invoicing from end-to-end if you want. The client may not even realizing that person on phone is from an outside agency and not your own personal assistant.

When I think of all value of time I spent collecting that last $2,000, I could kick myself for not handing it over to a collection agency. But, I can always look forward to putting this knowledge into practice next time I have a client who's slow in paying.

One last point - no single method in technical analysis is sufficient for real-world investing. For example, even if you master Elliott Wave Theory or Gann techniques, by itself it would bring more heartache and disappointment. Often, you will need knowledge from other disciplines and sources to improve your overall investing skills.

Some tips for successful investing in stock markets.

1.Investing is a business. The rules of running a profitable business are same as investing in stock markets. 2.Learn to spot your own mistakes fast. When a mistake is made, exit your position and live to fight any day. The faster you realize your own mistake and faster you react will reduce your losses, hence increasing your chances of winning in long run. A useful method is using a 10% stop loss exit strategy. If you are long, and your stock price goes down by 10%, exit. If this same stock reverses and starts to surge, take this as your mistake of not identifying a more accurate (lower) entry point. 3.Understand yourself inside out. What makes you happy, sad, excited, depressed, ecstatic - whole spectrum of human emotions are merely states of mind. This is easier said than done but you have to keep improving your own control mechanisms. 4.Learn methods of successful fund managers – diversification, emotional detachment and having realistic expectations. Investing is a marathon not a sprint. 5.Money management skills. Whether amount is $10,000 or $10 billion, same rules apply. There are plenty of sources of information on this subject from internet. 6.Learn technical analysis. The main thrust of this article is to avoid making mistakes that will cost you dearly. How you prepare yourself for bear markets, sideways markets and market crashes are vital to your success.

There are no secrets in investing – no magic formula, no discovery of some useful ancient secrets. Just knowledge, hard work, common sense and discipline will serve you well in years ahead. This verse from a 2500-years-old text is a useful reminder:

“Those who know do not speak, Those who speak do not know.” - Tao Te Ching, 56th verse

Stan Seecrets’ Postulate: “There are two types of people in world – those who know what they don’t know and those who don’t know what they don’t know.”

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